


Orphan

by GayRobinHood



Category: Whose Line Is It Anyway? RPF
Genre: (Whose Line is it Anyway? AU), M/M, rycol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 12:16:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5585064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayRobinHood/pseuds/GayRobinHood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan loved children, after all he did have three of his own. Sadly, after his divorce he wasn't granted joint custody. So he volunteers with the local foster home whenever he can. Little does he know, two people will change his life forever, a man and a young girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work is purely of the fictional variety, just something I thought would be cute to do. (Whose Line is it Anyway? AU) Feedback would be greatly appreciated since this is my first time writing a story like this in along time.

The bar was nearly empty at this late of an hour, and Ryan Stiles sat in a booth with his long time friend, Colin Mochrie. Staring down at his half empty glass, he let out a low sigh.   
“I can’t believe I lost them…” He takes a slow sip from his glass as Colin looks at him worried. “I don’t even get to see my kids anymore…” 

“Oh Ry,” Colin said softly as he reached out for Ryan’s free hand to provide some reassurance that not all was lost. “You can stay with me if you want to? Luke is here for the weekend, so you might have to take the couch for a night or two.” 

Colin understood what Ryan is going through because he was in his shoes, however large they were, a few years ago. He and Deb had split up upon mutual agreement. When they split, Ryan had literally given him the shirt off of his back. They lived together briefly until Colin had gotten back on his feet. Now, Colin could return the favor. After all, he had felt a little guilt for not being able to repay the man that had spent so much of his time listening, and drying Colin’s tears. Even though he hadn’t truly loved Deb, he still held significant feelings for her. There were nights when Colin couldn’t fall asleep fully, so he’d wander up to Ryan’s room to see if he was up. Nine times out of ten, he was. They’d stay up for hours talking about numerous things, have a couple drinks, and then part ways around two in the morning to finally fall asleep. Those nights Colin loved the most. Just siting and visiting with Ryan made him feel like nothing could break them apart, and he loved it. He loved him.

“Thanks Colin, that means a lot coming from you.” He paused to give a weak, but convincing smile to his life long friend. 

“Anything for the man who gave me everything until I could get situated myself.” Colin smiled back at Ryan. That gap in his teeth making him laugh slightly to himself. 

“What’s so funny, Mochrie?” He asked smiling still. 

“Can’t you tell?” If Colin was good at anything, it was trucking Ryan into a game of Questions Only. 

Squinting slightly, Ryan retorts with, “Won’t you tell me?”

“Do you think I should?”

“Well, I want to- damn it, Col. Will I ever win this game?” He says with slight affection under his beaten tone. 

“Will you ever be good at this game?” he responds with a smile. Gazing down at his watch, he says, “Its getting late Ryan, should we go?”

“Yeah, we should get going.” He said checking his own watch, and glancing up at Colin, who had a sly but smug expression on his face. “Damn you, Mochrie.” Ryan said as he placed down a twenty for the drinks and the rest for a tip. Colin laughed softly as he dawned his coat. Ryan had done the same, and went to follow him out of the bar. 

The bar they had chosen wasn’t far from the studio where they filmed Whose Line?, that made life so much easier when the wrap party died down. Ryan, Colin, Chip, and Jeff usually found their way down to the bar around midnight or so. Although, tonight was different, Ryan and Colin just completely blew off the wrap party so Ryan could vent, or think, or just forget about how his life, as he knew it, fell apart. He walked into that bar with the intention of getting so plastered that he wouldn’t be able to walk right, but he and Col both only had a couple of drinks each. 

A sharp, but teasing whistle came from behind them as a slightly inebriated Chip walked up to them, followed by a slightly more drunk Jeff Davis.

“Well what do we have here?” Chip asked with a smooth smile. “Ryan ‘Anything for laughs’ Stiles and Colin ‘Captain Hair’ Mochrie!” Chip greeted both of them with a hug, as Jeff staggered up to Chip, grabbing hold of his shoulders for support. 

“Hey Chip and Jeff!” Colin greeted them with a happy smile, and returned Chip’s drunken, but kind, gesture. “How was the wrap party?”

“It was awesome!” Jeff piped up, words slurring together. “You guys should have been there. Drew and Brad drank each other under the table, and Wayne lost his shirt!” His words running together more and more, Jeff started giggling and poked Chip’s cheek.

“Jeff thought it would be a good idea to drink an entire bottle of JD’s.” He said as he looped his arm around Jeff’s waist. 

“Damn Jeff,” Ryan said. “I’m guessing you guys are gonna go hang out at the bar?” 

“Nah, I think Chip wants to take me home, and watch a movie together.” Chip rolled his eyes at Jeff’s remark, but kissed his temple anyway.

“Could you blame him though? I’d want to spend time with a great guy too if I were Chip.” As he spoke, Colin cast a split second glance up at Ryan, who was staring down at his feet. Something, Colin had noticed, Ryan did at times when he was tired or bored. 

“Well I suppose we should let you to go do whatever it was you guys were gonna do, and us the same. See ya later.” Chip said as he turned to Jeff, and smiled as they both walked off.

“Goodnight guys.” Ryan and Colin replied in unison. 

It was a short walk back to Colin’s car in the studio parking lot. Colin unlocked his car for the pair of them so they could go back to Colin’s place and talk. He felt that something was off with Ryan, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Sure, he had recently lost his wife and kids in a messy divorce, but there was something else maybe. 

“Hey Ryan, are you sure you’re okay? I kinda have the feeling that you’re a little more bugged abut this situation than you say you are.”

Letting out a soft sigh of defeat, Ryan poured his heart out. “Yeah, there is something bugging me. I’ll never get to see my kids anymore, and I don’t even know why. I love my kids to death, but that woman won’t even let me see them. Its not my fault that she decided to see another man behind my back. It just pisses me off. Three months she snuck around with the other guy, why couldn’t she had just talked to me about it?” In the midst of his rambling, Colin had laced his free hand in Ryan’s. “It just fucking hurts that she doesn’t trust me with the kids. Me! Of all people she doesn’t trust me!” Ryan hadn’t noticed Colin’s hand in his. Maybe a small part of him doesn’t mind that his hand is there. Truth be told, Colin had always had some feelings for his taller friend. “My kids gave me a reason to go home…” He trailed off and looked down at their hands. Finally realizing the state of their hands, he smiles softly. “I’m sorry, Col, I just need to accept the fact that I probably wasn’t meant to have kids…”

“Oh Ry, you know that isn’t true.” Colin gave him a reassuring squeeze as they slowed to a stop. When he turned to look at him, he saw Ryan wipe his eyes. “You can stay with me as long as you want, and I’m sure Luke would be happy to see you?” Seeing the smile on the taller man’s face lightened his worries a bit. 

“I’d like that, Col, I really would.” Smiling, he takes Colin’s free hand in both of his. “Thank you.”

Colin smiled at him, and squeezed his hand again. “Let’s go home, Stiles.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so very sorry about such a late update. I've been up to my eyes in work for my classes, so it was very rare to find time to work on this. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and feedback is very much appreciated!

When Colin woke up, it was about nine in the morning, and all he could thing about was pancakes. Wait, all he could smell was pancakes. Why could he smell pancakes? Leaving his comfortable and warm bed cocoon, Colin went downstairs to the kitchen to see a beautiful sight. Ryan, with messy bed hair and in Colin’s sweats, that were a little too short for him, he’d let him barrow, was making pancakes in the kitchen with Luke. 

“How many pancakes do you want, Luke?” Ryan asked, looking down at the boy and smiling. Luke resembled Ryan in the way of appearance. He wore night pants that were a little too long for him, and his dark brown curls still messy from sleep. 

“Two!” Luke piped up in excitement.

“Two?” Ryan said feigning shock. “Are you sure you want two?”

“Yeah! Daddy says that I gotta eat good to grow up big ‘nd strong!” Luke smiled up at Ryan, not noticing his father standing in the doorway smiling a soft, sweet smile. 

With a soft laugh, Ryan fixes the boy’s pancakes and sets them down on the table for him, and Luke happily digs in. “Alright, two it is!” Ryan looks up to finally notice Colin in the doorway. “Well look who is finally awake, Luke!”

Luke giggles and says through a mouth full of pancake, “Captain Hair!” Ryan stifles a laugh as he greets his friend.

“Did Stiles tell you to say that, Luke?” Colin smiles at his boy, and ruffles his hair like all fathers do. Luke nods in response, and takes another bite of his pancakes.

“I couldn’t help it, Col, he’s so sweet and innocent. I thought it would be funny, and it kinda was.” He tried not to laugh as he spoke, but didn’t last. 

“Yeah… It kinda was.” Colin smiled at him. 

“Well, I suppose you want pancakes?”

“Well, I suppose you would be right.” Colin replied with an almost mocking tone. 

“How many?” He asked with a slight laugh.

“Two is fine.”

Ryan turned back to the countertop griddle to make Colin’s pancakes for him. “Hey Col… I’ve been thinking about what you said last night.”

“About the foster home?” Colin asked as he got some orange juice from the fridge. 

“Yeah, and I think I’m gonna do it. I’d probably only go once or twice a week, you know, whenever we aren’t taping or I’m off doing the Drew Carey Show. I just,” He stacked Colin’s pancakes onto a plate and handed them to him so he could fix them how he wanted. “want to be happy. Being around my kids made me happy, and if I can make some foster children happy, then that’s what I want to do.”

“I think you should do it, Ry, it’d be good for you, and the kids.” Colin smiled at him, and then took a seat next to his son, who surprisingly already ate half of his pancakes. “Hey Luke, if you keep that up, you’ll be as big and strong as Ryan and I!” Colin smiles at his son. Luke smiled back at his father mid-chew.

Making a couple pancakes for himself and pouring a cup of coffee, he sat down in front of the two boys and enjoyed a pleasant breakfast with them. He knew that he made the right decision on volunteering at the foster home. 

“I can call Marie later today and see if we can get you down there to meet the kids, if you want me to.” Colin said as he stood up to take the empty dished to the sink to do the washing up after breakfast. 

“That would be great, Col.” He smiled at his friend as he finished his coffee. “I can do the washing up, don’t worry about it.”

“You made breakfast, so I’ll do the dishes. Its really no big deal, Ryan.”

“Well, if you say so. I’ll just stand here and watch then.” He said as he folded his arm and gave Colin a look that can only be described as a sarcastic giraffe.

\---

“Thank you so much, Marie, you won’t regret this! He’s really great with kids, they’ll love him.” Colin said to Marie on the other end of the phone line. 

“Its really no problem, Colin, We’re always looking for volunteers her, and one that can bring a smile to these kids’ faces is all the better! So we’ll see you and Mr. Stiles tomorrow afternoon, then?”

“Yep! We’ll be there, and thank you so much for this opportunity.” 

After saying their farewells, Colin went into the living room where Ryan was on the couch drinking a beer and watching an old film. 

“That was Marie on the phone…” Colin said as he sat next to Ryan.

“Oh yeah, what’d she say?” Ryan asked calmly, but secretly eager to find out more about the home.

“We have a meeting with her tomorrow afternoon, Ry, and you get to meet the kids.” He said smiling at Ryan, watching him as he also smiled. Seeing a smile on Ryan’s face warmed Colin’s heart so much after seeing him cry for the first time last night. Ryan wasn’t a hard crier by any means, but seeing the pain of losing his whole life like he did really hurt Colin to see him like that. Even though there wasn’t a steady stream of tears, there were a few that burned in Ryan’s eyes. 

“Oh, Colin, that great!” He said as he set his beer down on a coaster. “What time tomorrow?”

“Around one thirty. There’s five kids in this home, three boys and two girls. She said that they’re gonna love you.”

“Did she say anything else about them?”

“She said that the youngest is pretty shy, but really sweet when you get to know her, and the boys are super into fake wrestling right now, so I advise you take it easy with your back.”

Ryan was smiling again, “Ya know, Col, things aren’t as shitty as they seemed to be. Seriously, thank you for calling and talking to her for me. It means so much to me that you did.” He placed his hand on top of Colin’s and squeezed it in thanks.

“Its really nothing, anything to make you happy after what you’ve been though.” He smiled back at his taller friend. He glanced down at his watch to check the time, and saw that it was nearly one in the morning. “You, Mr. Stiles, should get to bed. You have a big day tomorrow, and don’t worry about breakfast. I’ve got it covered.” Colin smiled at him as he stood up to go off to bed himself.

“Alright, Mr. Mochrie, goodnight.” He smiled up at him, and an hour or so later they were both out cold excited about the day to come.


	3. Chapter 3

After a sleepless night, Ryan slowly made his way to the bathroom to shower and wake up before breakfast. As he made his way through Colin’s lovely home, he checked the time to see it was quite early in the morning. The sun’s early rays haven’t yet broken the horizon. He ran his fingers through his curls and turned to go back to the couch where he spent the restless night. The problem wasn’t that the couch was too short for his tall frame, but it was the fact that he couldn’t stretch out. Sleeping in a crouched, fetal type position really took a toll on his back, but he couldn’t complain. Colin had taken him in, and he was so grateful of him for letting him crash there. 

Ryan spent the next few minutes flipping though the channels on the television, but eventually gave up and went out to the patio to watch the sun rise. Outside on the patio, the air was brisk with a chill, but he didn’t mind. He spent a few moments in silent contemplation about his day to come. The sky was painted a beautiful gradient of deep reds, vibrant purples, and glowing oranges chasing away the deep blue night sky. Exquisite was the sky, and Ryan, for a single fleeting moment, wished Colin were here to share this moment with him. Just as the thought entered his mind, it had left because a voice came from behind him. A tired, soft voice that he was just thinking about.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

He turned around to see a man in the doorway. His hair, at least what he had for hair, was disheveled and tired looking. His clothing, from his plain white t-shirt to his blue plaid night pants, matched the drowsy theme of the morning. 

“Not really.” He said fighting off the urge to yawn. 

“One hell of a sun rise, huh?” Colin asked as he stepped out onto the patio to join Ryan. 

“Yeah, it’s beautiful…” He said trailing off, His mind wandering off to this afternoon. “What time do we have to be there again?”

“One thirty-ish, why?” Colin asked as he cocked his head to the side a bit like a confused puppy.

“No reason.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the Great Mr. Stiles is nervous about meeting the children?” Colin asked with a smile like a child with a secret.

Ryan shot Colin a look that can only be described as a betrayed baby giraffe with a hint of understanding and relief. “Honestly, Col, how do you know me so well?” 

“I’ve had a long time to get to know you, Ryan.” He said as he pat his shoulder softly, his hand lingering for a second before dropping back to his side.

“What if they don’t like me? I’m pretty tall and intimidating to small children. They might think I’m gonna crush them.” Colin laughed, but kept it in almost. “What’s so funny, Mochrie?” Ryan asked as he turned to him.

“You’re worried about meeting kids, Ry. They’re just children, they’re gonna love you. Don’t sweat it.”

“How do you know?” Ryan asked as a joke, but really wanted to know what Colin thought.

“Because Luke likes you.”

Ryan looked a little shocked and confused, but nodded. “Okay… but how do you know he isn’t just saying that?”

“Ry, the kid is six years old. Do you honestly think he’d lie to me about you? Plus he came into my room last night around three in the morning and asked if you were staying longer. He really likes you, Ry, and I’m one thousand percent sure that the kids at the home will adore you as well.” Colin gave him a look that made Ryan throw in the towel on the argument, and he smiled.

“I guess you’re right Col,” he said and sighed. “What was I so worried about? I mean, they’re just kids, I’ve got nothing to worry about.” Ryan smiled back at Colin, and looked back towards the patio door to see a sleepy Luke. 

“I couldn’t sleep…” Luke walked up to Ryan with a scared look in his eyes.

“Oh dear, Luke, what’s wrong?” Ryan asked as he picked up the boy to console him.

“What’s wrong, bud?” Colin asked after Ryan as he stepped closer and gently rubbed his son’s arm to comfort him.

“I had a scary dream, daddy…” Luke said quietly as he hung his head slightly.

“Oh, don’t worry about a thing kiddo,” Colin said softly, “Ryan and I will be here to protect you.”

Luke looked up to his father, “Promise?” he asked quietly. 

“We promise.” Ryan said as he smiled at the boy, and Colin nodded with a smile in return. 

\---

Deb picked up Luke shortly after lunch, but stayed for a while to have a friendly conversation with Colin and Ryan. A popular, if not slightly uncomfortable, topic was Ryan’s recent divorce. However much Ryan had wanted to avoid that topic like the plague, he kept his chin up and kept it together. Thankfully, Colin saw how uncomfortable Ryan began to get, so he changed the topic to something more neutral. 

When Deb and Luke finally left, Ryan went up to the guest room that was Luke’s for the weekends to change. They had about an hour before they had to be at the foster home. 

“Hey,” Colin said as he softly knocked on the door. Ryan turned around as he pulled his shirt down over his head. “So how are you doing? I mean really.”

Ryan let out a soft sigh and looked over to Colin, “Honestly, I feel fine now. A few weeks ago, I would’ve crawled inside a bottle and pushed everyone away probably, but now… now I feel fine. Thank you, for doing all of this for me. You really didn’t have to, but you did.” Ryan smiled at his long time friend.

“I did it because I owe you so much, and I wanted to. Its not everyday that you get to take in one of your best friends, one that you’ve known for like two decades, and help them get back on his feet again.” Colin took a small step closer to Ryan and smiled. “You deserve the world, Ryan, and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.”

“Seriously, Col, you’re amazing.” He smiled at him, and checked his watch for the time. “We have a little less than an hour before we have to be there, wanna grab a drink before we go?”

“Sure, let’s go.” Colin said as he followed the taller man out of the room and down into the kitchen where they got the drinks.


End file.
